Fentanyl, meth linked to Floyd

Defense asserts drug use, rather than pressure to neck, led to death

MINNEAPOLIS – A partial pill found in the back of a Minneapolis police car at the intersection where George Floyd died tested positive for fentanyl and methamphetamine along with Floyd’s DNA, according to combined testimony Wednesday from forensic scientists in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial.

Part of Chauvin’s defense strategy has been to argue that Floyd died on May 25 more from illicit drug use and other medical factors than how the now-fired police officer pinned Floyd to the pavement for more than nine minutes until being rendered unconscious.

Two scientists with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and a third scientist from a Pennsylvania lab testified for the prosecution.

A BCA search of Floyd’s SUV led to two small white pills being recovered from the center console. Also collected from the driver’s side floor was a box for Suboxone, “a prescription medication used for adults with an opioid addiction,” she said. An unopened packet of the drug was seized from the driver’s side seat, McKenzie Anderson said.

A search of the squad car that Floyd resisted entering led to the discovery of what appeared to be most of a pill and pill remnants.

The DNA from one of the pills matched Floyd’s DNA, Anderson said.

Breahna Giles, a chemical forensic scientist for the BCA, then testified that the pills found inside the SUV contained methamphetamine and fentanyl, both addictive opioids. A partial pill and other traces of it tested positive for me th amphetamine. Earlier, a senior agent for the BCA testified that murder defendant Derek Chauvin kept his weight on a handcuffed George Floyd’s neck for minutes after Floyd was no longer talking or moving during the incident late last spring.

Having earlier reviewed the various video sources recording the encounter at the Minneapolis intersection and watching segments of them in court, special agent James Reyerson said that Chauvin’s knee went on the back of Floyd’s neck shortly after 8:19 p.m.

Floyd fell silent shortly before 8:24 p.m. and stopped moving about a minute later.

At that point, prosecutor Matthew Frank asked Reyerson, “Does it appear that officer Chauvin is using his weight to hold Mr. Floyd down?”

The special agent replied, “Yes, it does.”

Chauvin’s weight was still on Floyd more than 2½ minutes later, when paramedics arrived, Reyerson confirmed.